Computing systems typically have different memory type needs. As a result, computing systems usually include different memory devices. For example, FIG. 1 shows a conventional computing system that includes disk controller 101 in communication with peripheral devices 102. The components of disk controller 101 and peripheral devices 102 (e.g., fibre channel controller 112, data path controller 106, processors 108 and 110, and Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) controllers 114) can have different memory type needs. For instance, fibre channel controller 112 uses electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) 116 during system boots while processor 108 uses static random access memory (SRAM) 117 for fast, temporary storage operations. The problem with the conventional computing system of FIG. 1 is that all the different memory devices (i.e., EEPROMs 116, FLASH memories 118, SRAMs 117, and dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) 120) occupy a large amount of valuable board space. Furthermore, processing power must be allocated to drive all the different memory devices.
There are continuing efforts to satisfy the memory needs of a system.
Although the previous Drawings depict various examples of the invention, the invention is not limited by the depicted examples. Furthermore, the depictions are not necessarily to scale.